Piano-machine for punching jacquard cards



2 Sheets-Sl1eet 1.

(No Model.)

"vi ROYL-E. PIANO MACHINE FOR PUNGHING JAGQUARD CARDS.

Patented Feb. 23, 18 97. g 1M (No Model.) 2 Sheets Sheet 2.

v. BOYLE. PIANO MACHINE FOR PUNGHING JAGQUARD CARDS. No. 577,585. Paqeneged Feb. 3, 1897.

Eiillllliiii E y TV :7}? E5 I 1 ii w lm,

PKOIO-LIIMO, WASNINUTON, o. c.

Mrs

" ATENT OFFICE.

VERNON BOYLE, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

PIANO-MACHINE FOR PUNCHING JACQUARD CARDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,585, dated February 23, 1897.

Application filed April 30, 1895. Serial No. 547,616. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, VERNON BOYLE, of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Piano-Machines for Punching Jacquard Cards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in piano-machines for punching Jacquard cards, in which banks of punches are placed under the control of locking-levers operated by keys to hold any desired number of them in operative adjustment with relation to the card to be punched.

As my present invention is confined to the means for mounting, locking, and releasing the punches, I have only shown so much of the piano-machine as may be necessary to afford a clear understanding of the parts referred to, it being understood that the means for bringing the cards into engagement with the punches may be of well-known or ap proved form.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view, partly in section, of that part of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section along line :20 w of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section from front to rear along line y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a partial verticalsection from front to rear along the line 2 z of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a partial transverse vertical section along the line w w of Fig. 1, and'Fig. 6 is a view of a portion of one of the pattern-cards. p

The table or bed for supporting the patterncards to be punched is denoted by A, and it is provided at a point beneath the punches with an opening at, having a perforated plate a, supported over the top of the opening and forming a bearing for the card at the point where the punches operate. The table A is surmounted by a guide B, provided with a series of perforations 1), corresponding to the perforations in the plate a and intended to guide the punches to their work.

The punches and the mechanism for looking and releasing them are carried in a head (denoted as awhole by 0,) supported upon a pair of rods 0 0, which extend down through the guide-piece l3 and table A to a suitable connection with an operating-treadle. (Not shown.) The head 0 is conveniently composed of an upper plate a and a lower plate 0 the latter having a punch-supporting section 0 in which the banks of punches are mounted, and an intermediate spacing portion 0 between the upper and lower plates for the reception of the sliding locking-bars.

In the present instance I have shown sixteen punches arranged in a line and composed of two banks, a punch of the shorter bank alternating with a punch of the longer bank. The punches of the shorter bank are denoted by D and have collars d for preventing them from dropping downwardly out of their support 0 The punches of the longer bank are denoted by D and in like manner areprovided with collars d to prevent them from dropping downwardly out of their support 0 Each individual punch of both banks D D is provided with a light springd which has a tendency to keep the punch at the limit of its downward movement. The lower end of the spring rests against a shoulder (1 formed by reducing the body of the punch.

There is a recess or chamber 0 provided in the spacing portion 0 and in the plane of the line of punches for the extension of the bank of punches D upwardly toward the upper plate 0 of the head, leaving a space between the plate 0 and the tops of the punches D for the passage of the locking-bars.

Each individual punch D has its horizontally-slidin g locking-bar adapted to move into the space between the top of the punch and the upper plate a to lock the punch and back out of said space to release the punch. In

like manner each of the punches D of the shorter bank has a similar horizontally-sliding locking-bar adapted to he slid over the top of the punch to lock it and back out of the way to leave the punch free to move. The sliding locking-bars for the punches D are denoted by E and are held normally out of engagement with the punches D by means of a retracting-spring e. The locking-bars E gradually divergefrom one another as they extend toward the front of the machine from the punches, as shown in Fig. 1, and at their forward ends they are beveled, as shown at e,

to engage a corresponding bevel f on one of a bank of operating-keys F. The keys F are mounted in the head 0 in such a manner as to have a limited vertical movement, their movement downward being limited by the contact of the under side of their heads with the top plate 0 and their upward movement being limited by the engagement of a pin or stud f coming in engagement with the under side of the locking-bar E.

The locking-bars for the lower or shorter bank of punches are denoted by E and, like those already described for the longer bank of punches, are provided with retractingsprings and have their ends in like manner beveled to engage a corresponding bevel on the bank of keys F, mounted in the present instance farther toward the front than the bank F, as shown in Fig. 1.

Provision is made for simultaneously returning all the keys F or F which may have been depressed as follows: A plate or flat bar G extends transversely across the machine beneath the head 0 in such position as to engage the lower ends of the depressed keys F F when the bar or plate is raised, and said plate G is connected by end extensions 9 with the arms of a pair of operating-levers H, connected at their free ends by an operating-bar 7L and pivoted on a rod h at the front of the head 0. By depressing the bar h the key-returning plate or bar G is elevated and any keys which project below the head are returned to their normal position, thereby permitting the locking-bars E E to spring back away from over the punches into position to be again forced forward by the depression of the keys.

The punches which I have thus far described are for the purpose of making the pattern-holes i in the card I. In addition to these it is desirable to make, during the passage of the card through the machine, lacingholes of greater diameter than the patternholes and also a peg-hole. The lacing-holes are denoted in Fig. 6 by z" and the peg-hole by 7?. The peg-hole is made centrally near the endof the card, and the punch K for making it is locked by a sliding locking-bar 7c, similar in all essential respects to the bars E E, before referred to, and operated by a centrally-located key F quite like the keys F and F, referred to, and in position to be returned to its elevated adjustment by the upward movement of the bar or plate G.

The lacing-holes 11 in some instances are required to be the distance apart shown by the holes represented in full lines in Fig. 6 and in other instances the distance apart shown by the holes represented by dotted lines in Fig. 6. To provide for punching them at either of these distances apart at pleasure, I locate a bank of fourpunches in groups of two, as represented in Fig. 5, the punches for punching the holes the farthest apart being denoted by L and those for punching the holes nearer together being denoted by Z. These punches L and Z are located to be operated by means of a sliding bar M, provided with beveled ends m m, the one, m, adapted to engage a vertically-movable key F to slide the bar in one direction, and the other, m, adapted to engage a vertically-movable key F to slide the bar in the opposite direction. A central plunger N, provided with an actuating-spring n and working in the V-shaped groove m in the top of the bar M, serves to return the bar M to its normal position to release all the punches L Z. The under side of the bar M is provided with recesses, one of them, m being of sufficient length to receive one group L Z of the punches when the bar is in its normal position, and with recesses m and m separated by a partition m, which is normally located between the other group L Z of punches, leaving the punches L Z of that group free to lift, one of them, L, into the recess m and the other, Z, into the recess m hen one of the keysfor example, F is depressed, it will slide the bar M toward the right as Fig. 5 presents itself to the observer, carrying the partition m over the punch Zof one of the groups, and the bottom of the bar itself over the punch Z of the other group, so that the two punches Z will be brought into action and will punch the lacing-holes in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. (3. Vhen, on the other hand, the key F is depressed, it will force the bar M to the left and will bring the partition on over the punch L of one of the groups, and the bar itself over the punch L of the other group, leaving the remaining punches Z free to pass into the re cess in the bar M and bringing the punches L into action to punch lacing-holes in the position shown in full lines in Fig. 6. The keys F and F are returned to their normal position, when released from the hand of the operator, by means of springs O and 0, (shown in section in Fig. 5,) one of them being shown in edge elevation in Fig. 3.

In operation as the card to be punched is fed beneath the punches more or less of the punches-according to the pattern to be punchedare locked in operative adjustment by the depression of the proper keys F F, and the head 0, with the punches locked, is then depressed, forcing the punches through the card as it rests upon the perforated plate a. As soon as the head 0 is returned to the upper limit of its stroke the punches may be all released by the depression of the fingerbar It in case the pattern is to be changed at the next step, and such other combination of punches may be locked in operative adjust ment by the depression of the proper keys ready for the next downward stroke of the head 0. The pattern may thus be wrought out upon the card as it is fed beneath the punches, and the desired peg-hole and lacingholes may be punched at each end of the card in the proper positions.

Vhat I claim is- 1. The combination with a bank of punches and means for engaging them with the work to be punched, of locking-bars for holding the punches in working adjustment, sliding, inclined-faced keys for throwing the locking- IIO bars into locking adjustment at pleasure and means for returning the keys to their normal positions, substantially as set forth.

'2. The combination with a bank of punches and means for engaging them with the work to be punched, of spring-actuated lockingbars for holding the punches in working adjustment, sliding, inclined -faced keys for throwing the locking-bars into locking adjustment at pleasure said keys being mounted to move in paths transverse to the movement of the locking-bars and means for returning the keys to their normal positions, substantially as set forth.

The combination with a bank of punches and means for engaging them with the work to be punched, of locking-bars for holding the punches in working adjustment, keys provided with a beveled portion and with a straight" portion adjacent to the beveled portion arranged to throw and hold the lockingbars in position to lock the punches at pleasure and means for returning the keys to their normal positions, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with a bank of punches and means for engaging them with the work to be punched, of spring-actuated lockingbars for holding the punches in working adj ustment, retra ctingsprings engaged with the locking-bars keys having a beveled engagement with the bars for operating them and means for returning the keys to their normal positions, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a bank of punches and means for engaging them with the work to be punched, of horizontally-slidinglockingbars for holding the punches in working adjustment, vertically-slidin g keys arranged to throw and hold the bars in position to lock the punches at pleasure and a reciprocating returning plate or bar under the control of the hand of the operator for simultaneously returning all the keys which have been depressed to their normal positions, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the banks of punches having their ends at different elevations, and series of locking-bars, one series for each bank of punches and arranged at heights corresponding to the banks of punches, of sliding keys for operating said locking-bars, said keys being mounted to move in paths transverse to the movement of the locking-bars, retracting-springs engaged with the locking bars and means for simultaneously returning the keys of the several banks to their normal positions, substantially as. set forth.

7. The combination with a bank of punches for punching the pattern-holes ina card and means for operating said punches, of larger punches for punching the lacing-holes in the card a sliding bar for simultaneously locking said larger punches in operative adjustment and means for operating said bar, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination with a bank of punches for punching pattern-holes in a card, of a plurality of sets of punches for punchinglacingholes in a card and means for bringing one or another of the sets into operative adjustment at plea-sure to punch holes at different distances apart, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination with a plurality of sets of lacing-hole punches and means for engaging them with the work, of a sliding lockingbar for locking one or another of the sets in operative adjustment and keys for operating said locking-bar, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination with a plurality of sets of lacing-hole punches and means for engaging them with the work, of a sliding lockingbar, means for normally returning the bar to a position to release the several sets of punches and keys for moving the locking-bar in different directions to lock one or another of the sets in operative adjustment, substantially as set forth.

VERNON BOYLE. 

